How Hard Could It Be?
by LadyAlambielKnightofNarnia
Summary: He was just one little Raccoon kit. I only had to watch him for four hours. How hard could it be?


Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any characters you may recognize from the books or the movies, I wish I did but I don't... I also don't own the Narnian Calendar. It belongs to Elecktrum who was kind enough to let me borrow it for my story. Her own stories are awesome and you should go read them too.

Summary: He was just one little Raccoon kit. I only had to watch him for four hours. How hard could it be?

A/N: Pure fluff piece requested/suggested by MCH. Hope you enjoy it! This is part of my _A Light in the Darkness_ universe and is a prequel to my oneshot _Acceptance_, but can be read as a standalone.

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26 Quickening 1003

I peered around the corner cautiously, ready to run if I saw the enemy. The hall was clear and I heaved a sigh of relief. No sign of the girls or their ladies-in-waiting or anyone else who had been shanghaied into helping with Susan's mad organization of the full week of feasts celebrating the Narnian new year. I shook my head in mild disbelief that Susan was so worked up about getting everything ready for May Day when the first feast wasn't for another week. And, it wouldn't have been so bad, but Su kept trying to rope me into helping with the decorations and stuff. Peter, at least had the excuse of going off to where the Northern Marsh met the River Shribble to settle a small dispute between a family of Muskrats and a young Jaguar concerning fishing rights. He was safe from our sister's planning madness, at least until he got back to the Cair. Lucy was happily helping Susan in this as were most of the ladies-in-waiting and the servants and Susan had even begun commandeering the soldiers to help. Which left me to avoid them to the best of my abilities and find a good spot to hide...last year I hid in the kitchen pantries and was caught within four hours.

I was fairly certain Susan had already commandeered Peter and mine's valets (not that they really would have minded seeing how they're Fauns), so maybe I would be able to sneak back into Peter and mine's room and hide out there for a bit. After another peek around the corner confirmed the hall was still deserted, I made a break for it. I had nearly reached the next corner when I was forced to stop. I gave a little grunt at the impact of having a hand hit me square in the chest and my eyes shot up those few inches to meet the eyes of Kat, who looked far too amused for the situation. I scowled at her, "Did Susan send you?"

She grinned, "No. Is that why you were eyeing the hall like it held a Dragon yearling or two?"

"I was not!"

Kat didn't argue. I hated that she didn't argue, it meant I looked silly and couldn't use her for an excuse. She just raised an eyebrow. I growled, "If Susan didn't send you, why were you looking for me?"

Kat smiled again, this time there was a hint of wild mischief in her eyes, and I braced myself for whatever crazy prank she had come up with that would require my participation. Normally, I would be all for whatever prank Kat had in mind, but the last time we had pulled a prank while Susan was preparing and organizing everything for a celebration, a minor one at that, we nearly ended up being exiled by a very furious and not-nearly-so-Gentle Queen. I didn't even want to think about what Susan would do to us for a prank during her planning for the Narnian New Year festivities. I gave myself a little mental shake and abruptly realized that Kat was talking to me...wait. What did she just say? "What did you say?"

My hope that I had heard wrong was shot down immediately as Kat looked at me with a mix of satisfaction and amusement. "I said you're on babysitting duty." Oh no. I couldn't imagine who she volunteered me for babysitting...but, with Kat, it was probably someone who's little ones weren't so little. I immediately started running through the guards who had had new additions to their families. Bianor? No, his son, Rainor, was too calm and his daughter, Aviva, was frankly too sweet to be trouble. Esmae, one of the Cheetahs attached to Susan's personal guard, had three five-month-old cubs and she had just returned to guard duty earlier this month. I didn't get any further down the list...all I could think was Kat had volunteered me to watch three Cheetah cubs and I didn't even have Peter around to help share the burden.

Kat raised her left arm and I realized that a very small Raccoon kit had wrapped himself around her hand and wrist. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding as I realized she just wanted me to watch one little Raccoon. He raised his head and twisted around to look at Kat, "Atuki down! Find s'iny! Ala! Atuki down!"

Kat glanced down at the kit, "Patience, sir." She looked back at me, "You get to watch Atuki for the afternoon. Lady Shapata will come to collect him at fifth hour. He should nap for at least a little bit of the afternoon, but when he's awake you need to keep a very close eye on him. And, whatever you do, keep him away from the armory and the barracks and the training yards. He's been spending too much time around soldiers when they didn't know he was there and were preoccupied with turning the air blue."

My eyebrows shot up at that comment because yes, the soldiers tended to curse quite a bit if there were no ladies or impressionable youngsters around, but Kat was well aware that I had an impressive vocabulary of curses myself. She knew because she would reprimand me to watch my language, if not to the same volume as Susan would when she happened to catch me swearing. "Kat, I swear."

She smiled, completely undeterred as per usual for Kat, and grabbed my hand so she could deposit the squirming Atuki into my hand. I had to grab him with both hands to keep the little Raccoon from tumbling to the floor. Kat looked like she was about to burst with laughter at any moment as she nodded, "Consider it an exercise in self-restraint and patience. Those are good qualities for a judge."

She started to leave and I immediately called out, "Wait a minute! Where are you going?"

She turned completely around so she could walk backward as she answered with more cheerfulness than I felt was justified. "It's Seventhday. I have plans and they don't include being roped into helping Susan with this decorating frenzy of hers. Have fun babysitting, Ed."

I hate her. I was about to tell her so when she looked to her left and smiled as Oreius and Ardon joined her. I had no idea what they said to her but she laughed and gestured toward where I was still standing with a squirming Raccoon kit clasped in my hands. Both Centaurs looked at me and then they turned back to Kat and said...something... Whatever it was, she just laughed. I would have been more concerned about the sheer amount of amusement Kat was experiencing if she had left me with Esmae's cubs. I looked back down at Atuki, who just grunted as he stretched his tiny forepaws out. "Duht!" He was just one little Raccoon kit. I only had to watch him for four hours. How hard could it be?

Atuki wouldn't stop squirming. He wouldn't stop touching everything he could reach or trying to touch what he couldn't reach. He wouldn't stop talking to himself about whatever was going through his little mind at the moment...literally. Every single thought the little bugger had, he immediately turned it into words. And, since he couldn't form sentences longer than two words at a time...it was amazing how much he could chatter. I had been watching him for over an hour and had learned that the mind of a three-month-old Raccoon primarily revolved around shiny objects. This fact would be why I had deposited him in a little pen formed of every single cushion I could find in Peter and mine's room with every single "s'iny" Atuki had spotted in the first ten minutes of being in the room.

After I went through the hassle of catching Atuki seventeen different times when he crawled his way up and over the first layer of cushions, I stacked a second and third layer of cushions to better keep him out of trouble. While doing this, I was treated to the sight of Atuki feeling all the shiny objects I had given him and then he started separating them. "Duht!" Still no idea what that word was supposed to be...other than it was an all-purpose word for the little rascal. As I stacked, he kept talking...of course. "S'iny, ha! Atuki find. For Ala. Pretty t'ing! For Ore. S'iny. Atuki find! Ha! For Ala. For Ore. Atuki find! Ha! S'iny! Duht! For Ore. Atuki find! For Ala! Pretty s'iny! Ha!"

I paused to watch him. I raised an eyebrow when I realized he was separating the shiny objects into two piles, one for 'Ala' and one for 'Ore' or for those of us who used full sentences and names, Katerina and Oreius. Atuki turned around and saw me watching and he immediately waved a forepaw. "Atuki find! 'Ing Ed. S'iny! Duht!" Apparently the only person whose name Atuki could say properly was Atuki's.

Noticing the kit was still watching me, apparently waiting for a response of some kind. So, I smiled and nodded, "Very good, Master Atuki."

My response must have been satisfactory as Atuki giggled then went right back to separating his shiny objects. I thought it was funny that if he said something was pretty it went to 'Ala' but if it was just shiny it went to 'Ore'. Needless to say, Kat's pile was a lot bigger than the one for Oreius...I was still a little confused about how Atuki managed to call Katerina Alambiel 'Ala' instead of 'Kat' like everyone else in the Cair who shortened her name, but this _was_ the same Raccoon who yelled "Duht!" for everything not shiny or pretty. I looked back down at the Raccoon and wondered if I should encourage him to make a third pile...but for who?

Atuki was patting Peter's personal seal when I leaned over the cushion barrier slightly and caught his attention. "Master Atuki, would you like to make another pile?" He sat up a little straighter and clutched Peter's seal to his chest but didn't say anything, so I blurted out my idea. "Maybe you should make a pile of pretty things for your mama?"

Atuki just looked at me and then he whispered, "Mama?"

I nodded, "Yes, you should make a pile for your mama."

Atuki looked around the room before looking at me again. I nodded encouragingly. Atuki sniffed. I froze...oh no, oh no, oh no. Atuki sniffed again and two large tears appeared in his eyes. He threw down Peter's seal and wailed, "No Mama!"

I tried to hush him, but he just kept wailing. Oh sweet Aslan, if Kat or the girls found out that I made Atuki cry... I frantically scanned the room for something that would distract the kit. I got up and ran to my wardrobe then I ran back to where Atuki was still wailing as loud as he could. I dropped to my knees just on the other side of the cushion barrier from the sobbing Raccoon kit. "Atuki look!"

He was still sobbing, but he managed to open one eye to look at me. Then, he looked at what I was holding out to him. His sobs finally started to quiet from the full-out wails to hiccupping whimpers punctuated by sniffling little gasps. He pointed, "S'iny."

He hiccupped again and I nodded, "Yes, shiny. Would you like it?"

He hiccupped then sniffled before extending his forepaws toward me, "S'iny. Atuki find. Duht!"

I let out a relieved sigh as I carefully set Atuki's new shiny object down next to him. All thoughts of mamas and tears vanished as Atuki started sniffing then running his forepaws all over the shiny surface. Praise Aslan, the kit seemed to be thoroughly distracted. I rocked back on my heels extremely grateful that no one had come to investigate all the noise. I didn't even want to think about the rumors that would start when they found the Just King unable to calm a squalling Raccoon kit...and that the Just King was the one responsible for the squalling to begin with. I would have never lived it down. I paused when I realized Atuki wasn't continuing his running commentary from before. Half terrified that he was about to burst into tears again, I cautiously peeked over the cushion barrier. I could hardly believe my eyes, but sure enough, Atuki had simply curled up inside my crown and gone to sleep.

I stood and tiptoed my way to the parlor, checking the water clock. It was twenty minutes 'til third hour. I wondered what the odds were that Atuki would sleep until fifth hour...

With Atuki sleeping quietly, I settled in with several books on Narnian law that Stonebrook had recommended I peruse in preparation for a large summit planned for Narnia, her allies, and well, currently not hostile countries. Of course, this wasn't set to happen for another year, but Stonebrook believed in being prepared...or even over-prepared. I had just finished slogging through the intricacies of the trade agreement policies of the great and majestic Empire of Calormen, which was basically a guide to backstabbing one's trade partners so politely they couldn't object without causing a war. It was fascinatingly twisted, but a bit repetitive after awhile, especially since one can only stand reading "the Tisroc, may he live forever" so many times and I had reached my limit on the first page. Narnian laws were much more straightforward...of course, this was probably due to the fact that our citizens did not consider finding ways to politely backstab their neighbors a national pastime.

I was reading a decree issued by King Gale the Sixth concerning the trade agreements made with the Tisroc of the time, reiterating the original law issued by King Gale Dragonslayer that slavery and the traffic of slaves was illegal in Narnia and her territories, when I realized I needed to check on Atuki. I had been periodically peeking over my books to make sure the little rascal was still napping away, but I hadn't checked in quite a bit. I peeked over my book expecting to see him still snoring away inside my crown...he wasn't there. Setting my book aside, I hurried over to see if he had curled up against the cushions and was just out of my line of sight...he wasn't. The pen I had created was full of every shiny object from some silver Trees and gold Lions to my own silver crown, but it was empty of the one creature who was supposed to be in there. "Atuki?"

I heard a giggle then "Atuki fast! 'Ing Ed! Duht!" Where was the little bugger?

I searched all the obvious places Atuki could have hidden himself, but he wasn't in any of them. "Atuki? Where are you?"

I spun as I heard another giggle and ran into the parlor just in time to see Atuki's tiny ringed tail disappearing through the crack in the doors leading to the hall. With a shout, I lunged for him and missed, instead managing to slam the doors shut on my left hand. I yelped then hissed in pain, but was able to resist a rather overwhelming urge to curse the entire situation. Susan would be proud. Kat would be entertained.

I opened the doors and ran into the hall, searching for a sign of the little bugger while cradling my throbbing fingers. I supposed I should be grateful that they weren't broken, or at least didn't feel like they did the last time I had broken them, but Lion's Mane, they hurt and I didn't feel like being grateful. I heard a giggle from up ahead of me and I picked up speed in hopes of catching Atuki before he caused any more trouble.

By the time my fingers weren't throbbing quite as badly as they had been, I had followed Atuki's giggles down six flights with only the occasional glimpse of the little bugger's tail as positive proof I hadn't lost him completely. We hadn't run into any servants and I only saw two guards, a Satyr and a young female Lynx, who hadn't quite been able to hide their amusement when I passed them twice...in both directions. I could thank Susan for that little fact, which was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I didn't have to worry Atuki being stepped on or something, but on the other hand, I didn't have any help in corralling the little rascal. I hesitated when I reached a completely deserted section of hallway. "Atuki?"

Atuki stuck his head out from under one of the tapestries hanging down the wall and squeaked, "Atuki fast! 'Ing Ed! Duht! 'Ing Ed! Duht! Ha!"

Now what was he doing? I growled under my breath and strode toward the tapestry with its miscreant vagabond of a Raccoon kit. There was no way I was going to let Atuki slip by again. Then, the secret panel in the wall opposite of the tapestry opened. Peter stepped out. Atuki squeaked in delight, "Duht!"

I dove for the Raccoon kit and he slipped right through my fingers. Peter stepped on my injured fingers when he spun to hit the catch for the panel, which kept Atuki from being crushed as he squeezed through the narrow gap between panel and wall. I yelped then hissed, "Watch your feet!"

"Ed? What are you doing down there?"

I hate Peter sometimes. I glared up at my idiot brother. "I'm crocheting a new table runner. What do you think I'm doing?"

"Crawling on the floor. The question is why?"

I stood up, warily flexing my fingers a tiny bit, still not broken...still very painful. "I was trying to stop Atuki from going down the secret passage you oh so conveniently opened for him just when I was about to grab him."

"And, how was I supposed to know you were chasing a Raccoon kit down the hall just as I opened the panel?"

I didn't have a good answer for that question, so I settled for glaring at my brother. "Well, let's open the panel and get him back before his mother comes looking for him."

Peter nodded and hit the catch...then he hit it again. I hung my head. Unbelievable. Peter hit the catch once more, but the panel remained stuck with a scant two inches between its edge and the wall. I looked at Peter, and then I did the only thing left for us to do in that moment. "Atuki? Atuki, come back here! Atuki?"

Peter and I both strained to hear something that would confirm Atuki was still in the immediate vicinity of the panel. Nothing. Not a giggle or a squeak or even a single "Duht!" Well, that was bad. I turned to Peter and crossed my arms only to hiss when I accidently put pressure on my poor abused fingers. Peter immediately grabbed my wrist and raised it. "Edmund, what happened to your fingers?"

Well, first off he had stepped on them. I didn't say that though, instead choosing the simplest explanation. "I tried to catch Atuki and missed." Twice. I was a mastermind of the art of understatement. Peter had that stubborn look, which meant he was gearing up to argue about my assessment of my injuries...as if he could talk. Mister Oh, a Giant just sent me flying across the field and I have six broken ribs, a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder, and a sprained ankle, but I'm fine, give me my sword back. I cut him off before he could get started, "Peter, we need to find Atuki. Doesn't this passage also lead up to our quarters?"

He nodded, even though he gave a look that promised fussing and hovering by my big brother would be in my immediate future as soon as we caught Atuki. "Yeah, it comes out right by the girls' rooms. I was going to get out there, but when I cracked the panel open I heard Susan chattering about the Feast of Yesteryear and what clothes we all needed to wear, I decided to take the strategic action of retracing my steps and leave the passage on this floor."

Strategic action? More like Peter was afraid of what Susan would rope him into if she knew he was back. I rolled my eyes and was about to make a comment about the actual reason Peter was on this floor when a thought struck me. "You said you cracked the panel open?"

He nodded, "Yes."

"Did you close the panel back?"

Peter's eyes widened and I groaned. A tapestry hid the panel and no one in the hall would have noticed the crack, but as Atuki proved a crack was no deterrent to his exploration...the little bugger. Peter and I immediately ran back toward our quarters, hoping we could reach Atuki before he got himself into even more trouble. We hit the hall leading to the girls' rooms just as the screams started. I groaned again. What in the name of Aslan had Atuki managed to do?

The screams were coming from Susan's rooms and Peter charged in with me on his heels. We burst into Susan's bedroom just in time to see her fling open the bathroom door. She was dripping wet, wrapped in one of her thick robes, and holding one completely soaked Raccoon kit. He noticed us and waved his forepaws as he happily squeaked, "Duht! 'Ing Ed. 'Ing Pet. Atuki fast! Miss Atuki! Ha!"

Susan didn't say a word, just glared at us. She handed Peter Atuki, then she tossed me a towel. Peter deposited Atuki in my good hand and wrapped the towel around the little bugger, but we both jumped when Susan slammed her bathroom door closed again. I looked at Peter, then nodded for him to precede me out the room. We got into the parlor and were greeted with a goodly number of our Narnian cousins, both soldiers and ladies-in-waiting. I let Peter handle explaining what had caused Susan's screams, while I slipped out of Susan's rooms and headed back to Peter and mine's rooms. It was ten minutes 'til fifth hour. Sitting in the parlor, I set to work drying off Atuki who happily chattered about exploring in the dark and then finding Su, whereupon he somehow climbed up onto the side of the tub without her noticing and then fell in to her bath. When his mother arrived to collect him, Atuki was still fairly excited about his adventure, but Lady Shapata, Aslan bless her, didn't seem the least bit surprised at the mischief her youngest kit had gotten into in the space of forty-five minutes.

Peter sat beside me and offered the liniment jar he had gotten from Alithia. Watching as I rubbed it on to each individual finger, he asked. "So, are you ever going to watch Atuki again?"

I thought about it, and then gave the most reasonable of answers, even if Peter did laugh. "Only if you're at my side, good my brother."

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**A/N: Please read and review! Okay, my second piece told from Edmund's POV, this time a little older, hopefully still in character though. Something fluffy to tide all of you over until I have finished hammering out the next chapter for _Revealed_. Click the big blue button below and let me know what you think about this one and if you have any suggestions/requests for other stories.**


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